Community Champions: Pebble Hills girls basketball team

The Pebble Hills girls basketball team is thriving thanks to its senior leadership this season and is now the only local 6A team still alive in the girls state playoffs.

The Spartans defeated Midland on Monday by a final of 48-42 to claim a bidistrict title. Now, they have a date with Arlington Bowie in the area round on Friday.

Not bad for a team that is playing with a senior class for the very first time.

“It means a lot. It was our biggest difference this year,” said head coach Steven Lee. “Last year, not having any seniors, not having that experience really kind of hurt us in the end. But this year it kept us going.”

That leadership was evident earlier in the season when the Spartans went on the road at Franklin and handed the traditional powerhouse their first district loss since the 2014-15 season.

But the Spartans did not stop there and now have a chance to add an area round trophy to their collection later this week.

Seniors on the team say they hope to keep winning to show future classes what’s possible.

“Being a senior, it really means we’ve got to step up,” said guard Thalia Watters. “There’s a lot of young ones that this is there first year on varsity. So, it just means a lot. They know that they have something to go off next year.”

But for now, next year can wait.